Having sailed all versions of the Blade I agree that the evolution is there. On the very last day of the Zandvoort event (second day of distance racing) I crewed for Geert on his Alter Cup boat. I can only say :"WOW, what a upwind monster". We had heard these comments form the US Alter Cup sailors and I can only concur. That sail design is just right.
I'm very happy with Taipan but I do think the Blade is overall better. The strong points of the Taipan are its 1-up performance in very light winds. Blade's are nicer in all other conditions in my opinion. The only real caveat is that big wind under spinnaker the Blade stays flat and calm for all the way up to the threshold and then falls off it. The Taipan is certainly less dive-happy, it is in fact more so but because the bows start nodding a little before meeting the actual threshold you get ample advance warning, on the boat you can power it up all the way to inches of the threshold and feel like you have still acres left. That is what get most newbies and a few experiences sailors as well. But once get the know the craft better you'll know where the push and were to hold back a little. In my opinion the Stealth has its strong point right there with the T-foils. And so we have covered all 3 strong points of each boat. The Viper and Aussie Blade are still to young to be judged on this but they are said to be a little bit more forgiving downwind in a blow as well. It certainly looked that way.
Also there is another thing that most F16 sailors do well to learn. It simply pays so much to anticipate the wind and gusts on the downwind legs. If you are a fraction to late then yes the bows goes (but still recovers all the time) be on time and you drive it deep and accellerate fast with each gust. Timing is absolutely everything here. If a guyy is walking away from you under spinnaker (like Tim I expect) then it is this that he is doing right. It will feel like you are bearing off and heading up again BEFORE the gust is there. Look for, train yourself on it and experience the results.
Wouter
